A documentary film about the Internal Revenue Service scandal will have a one-time showing in local theaters on Oct. 14.

More than 600 theaters nationwide scheduled to show “UnFair: Exposing the IRS.” It was written and produced by radio show host Craig Bergman. The feature-length film investigates the alleged cover-ups and abuses of power at the IRS. In the film Bergman and his fellow filmmakers travel across the U.S. to interview politicians, community organizers and the alleged victims of the scandal.

My Commentary

Clearly there is reason to believe that the IRS unfairly target conservatives. If this documentary can lay out the evidence in an objective way that can stand up to criticism and if enough people will ultimately view it, ultimately it can be effective. By effective, I mean people will insist that the IRS is held accountable, and politicians will be held accountable if they are seen as covering up for the IRS.

Jan 21, 2010 - The Supreme Court ruled hat the government cannot limit corporation or union spending for or against political candidates. President Obama denounces the Supreme court for its ruling.March 2010 - As the result of a 2013 investigation by the Inspector General, appointed by Obama, it is found that the IRS, when searching for 501 c4 organizations to audit, specifically searched for groups with the name "Tea Party", as well as other searches that targeted conservative organizations. The IG says the search critieria was innappropriate but stopped short of saying conservatives were targeted out of political motivation. It was also found that while the IRS did audit liberal groups they were not being targeted for extra scrutiny.June 2010 - According to the Inspector General's report the Determinations Unit of the IRS began training its specialists on the issues to be aware of, specifically including Tea Party cases.July 2010 - According to the Inspector General, The IRS' Determinations Unit requested its specialists "Bolo"(Be on the lookout) for Tea Party applications.August 2010 - The determinations unit issues its first "Bolo" listing issued with criteria listed as various Tea Party organizations.September 2010 - An e-mail obtained by the house oversight committee shows that Lois Lerner told her subordinates that she would be intiating a "C4 project"(501c4) and added that we need to be cautious so it isn't a per se political project." October 2010 - Lerner told a Duke University group: “The Supreme Court dealt a huge blow, overturning a 100-year-old precedent that basically corporations couldn’t give directly to political campaigns. And everyone is up in arms because they don’t like it. The Federal Election Commission can’t do anything about it. They(Presumably the Obama adiministration) want the IRS to fix the problem.”(So far Lois Lerner has refused to tell us who "They" are.)October 26 2010 - an IRS agent in the Determinations Unit emailed concerns to the technical unit that conservative501(c)4 groups were being unfairly targeted through searches such as 'Tea Party', Patriot or 9/12 project.November 2010 - In Novermber the same person follows up with another e-mail after receiving no response to the first e-mail.February 2011 - Lerner e-mailed her colleagues in the IRS: “Tea Party Matter very dangerous. This could be the vehicle to go to court on the issue of whether Citizens United overturning the ban on corporate spending applies to tax-exempt rules. Counsel and Judy Kindell need to be in on this one please. Cincy should probably NOT have these cases.”June 29 2011- IRS director of exempt organizations Lois Lerner learns at a meeting that the agency flagged group titles with "tea party," "patriot," or "9/12 Project" for supplementary review. She told those involved to alter this practice "immediately," according to a draft of the report from the TIGTA, who audits the IRS.Michael Seto, manager of EO Technical in Washington, testified that that Lerner ordered Tea Party cases to undergo a “multi-tier review.”

In June 2011- Lerner requested that Holly Paz obtain a copy of the tax-exempt application filed by Crossroads GPS so that her senior technical advisor, Judy Kindell, could review it and summarize the issues for Lerner.Jan. 25 2012 - IRS changes standard for identifying organizations that require additional scrutiny, now flagging for "political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding Government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform movement," according to the inspector general's report.March 22, 2012 - IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman testified the agency did not increase difficulty for politically active groups to get tax exempt status at the House Ways and Means Committee. The Ways and Means - Oversight subcommittee chairman, Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., called the hearing after he heard complaints from tea party groups about harassment from the IRS.May 3, 2012 -Then-deputy commissioner Steven Miller was first told about the extra scrutiny for tea party groups; he made no mention of this during a House hearing on July 25.July 25, 2012 - Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Texas, asked Miller about harassment complaints he had received constituents from politically active tax-exempt associations among his constituents. Miller responded only by saying the IRS "groups those organizations" for "consistency" and "quality." He never mentioned that he was already of aware of politically active groups being targeted for extra scrutiny(specifically Tea Party groups).April 16 2013 - The Inspector General notifies White House counsel about his findings and what is going to be included in his report.April 24, 2013 - White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler learned that the IRS targeted 501(c)4 applications with "tea party," "patriot," and "9/12 project." She informed senior White House staff including the Chief of Staff Dennis McDonough, not the president, Carney said at a May 20, 2013 press conference.May 10, 2013 - Lerner admits to and apologizes for additional review of conservative groups' 501(c)4 status applications, though she said high level employees didn't know about the issue -- the inspector general's report refuted this information. While the IRS asked some to provide a donor list, which is against most IRS policy, others never received tax exempt status. Overall, IRS agents flagged 296 of the 501(c)4 applications, 160 of which were open for more than 1,138 days. At an American Bar Association conference May 10, Lerner said "line people" in the Cincinnati office flagged applications based on certain terms, such as "Tea Party" and "patriot." The associated Press reported that she said the practice was initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati and was not motivated by political bias. "They didn't have the appropriate level of sensitivity about how this might appear to others, and it was just wrong," she said at the conference.May 10, 2013: White House press secretary Jay Carney said this IRS scrutiny was "of concern" and "inappropriate" when answering reporter questions.May 13, 2013: Mr. Obama called IRS targeting "outrageous," in a joint press conference with United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron. He said the IRS will be held accountable if reports are true.May 14, 2013: A Treasury inspector general report calls IRS standards "inappropriate criteria" for flagging 501(c)4 groups as the agency had for more than three years. The report blamed relaxed leadership for the targeting controversy and includes recommendations for the IRS implement more consistent policies. May 14 2013 - William Holder says there will be a Justice department investigation into the IRS Targeting Scandal.May 15, 2013: Mr. Obama accepted Miller's resignation, effective in June, after the president had a phone call with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to discuss results of the inspector general's report. Mr. Obama announced Miller's resignation at a short press conference after 6 p.m. where he said IRS actions were "inexcusable."May 16, 2013: IRS commissioner of the tax exempt and government entities division Joseph Grant announced he would retire June 3, becoming the second top agency official to leave within a week of news of the targeting.May 17, 2013: Testifying at the House Ways and Means Committee, Miller said "foolish mistakes were made" in determining when to administer extra scrutiny, but that the flagging process was not partisan. At the hearing, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George also testified about the report which detailed the targeting controversy. George seconded Miller's insistence that the IRS agents weren't motivated by partisanship.May 22 2013 - Lois Lerner is asked to testify in front of Congress. She pleads the fifth and refuses to answer any questions. Keep in mind Lois Lerner must have a reasonable fear that her testimony could incriminate her in order to plead the 5th.June 2013 - The inspector General says “TIGTA concluded that inappropriate criteria were used to identify potential political cases for extra scrutiny — specifically, the criteria listed in our audit report. From our audit work, we did not find evidence that the criteria you identified, labeled "Progressives,” were used by the IRS to select potential political cases during the 2010 to 2012 time frame we audited,” Mr. George said. The result was that 100% of groups with the name Tea Party were targeted for extra scrutiny while only 30% of groups labeled as progressives were targeted.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/27/irs-auditor-reaffirms-conservatives-not-liberals-w/#ixzz38tlkhfD5July 2013 - IRS officials in Cincinnatti fire back claiming they received orders on who to target from the Washington IRS office.November 2013The head of the Cincinnati IRS office wrote to her superior that employees of the local office had been "hit by a convoy of Mack trucks" when they were blamed for targeting tea party groups.Jan 8 2014 - It is revealed that the Justice Department appointed an Obama campaign donor to head the investigation into the IRS Targeting Scandal. Republicans ask for someone else but president Obama refuses to change investigators citing it would be inappropriate to ask appointees about their political leanings.Feb. 2014 - In an interview with Bill O'rielly President Obama claims there is not even a smidgeon of corruption in the IRS regarding the targeting allegations.March 5th - Lois Lerner, once again fearing her own incrimination, pleads the 5th and refuses to testify.March 26 - John Koskinen, head of the IRS, says it would take years to provide all the e-mails of Lois Lerner and key figures tied to the contoversy because their would be millions of them and it would take time to redact the -emails. Up unil this time they were only producing documents with the word 'Tea party' or election in them.June 2014 - The IRS reveals that because of a hard-drive crash in May of 2011, they cannot supply many e-mails requested between January 2009 and May 2011. They soon after reveal that six other hard-drives crashed from computers that congress had requested emails from.http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/06/17/how-the-irs-lost-lois-lerners-e-mails/10695507/http://beforeitsnews.com/politics/2014/06/breaking-irs-loses-lois-lerner-emails-2629546.htmlhttp://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/06/26/emails-lerner-sought-irs-audit-republican-senatorJune 2014 - Inspector General says it will investigate lost e-mails.July 11 2014 - Federal Judge orders IRS to explain lost e-mails.July 21 - 2014 - John Koskinen reveals that the IG has found some back-up tapes that may containg lost e-mails.

Tea Party director says the type of questions asked made him feel like he was being interrogated by the secret police and described the questioning as "creepy"

After telling congress they did not target conservatives in multiple hearings in 2012 the IRS later admits that it did target conservatives as early as early as the spring of 2010

President Obama says if conservatives were targeted because of their political beliefs, than thats outrageous.Below, a CBS report says conservatives were targeted and the IRS knew about it and lied about to congress

Lois Lerner takes the 5th, excersizing her right not to incriminate herself prompting Republican congressman Trey Gowdy to claim she can't do that if she already spoke on her behalf.

IRS agents from cincinatti testify that they got their targeting orders from Washington. Emails released in 2014 suggest Lois Lerner was very concerned with Tea Party applications and put out "Bolo" reports targeting them.

Republicans discover that Eric Holder appointed a woman named Barbara Bosserman,who it turns out is a supporter and donor of Barack Obama.This has led some to believe that is why Barack Obama can confidently say there is not a "smidgeon" of corruption before the investigation has even been completed and further stating that there were just some boneheaded "mistakes."

Was Obama trying to influence the investigation when he said there was not a smidgeon of corruption by the IRS?

Lois Lerner taking the 5th again short version with Fox commentary

Once again Lois Lerner refuses to testify and answer the questioning of Republican Daryl Issa out of fear she might incriminate herself. Democrat Elijah Cummings tries to speak in her defense but Issa won't allow it, leading to fireworks

John Koskinen refused to apologize for the lost emails of Lois Lerner, the central figure of the IRS targeting scandal. The emails he claims, were lost in a computer crash in May of 2011 and says none were lost since the investigation began. The IRS has managed to retrieve 24,000 emails from hard drives of other computer that had been sent the emails. However, 7 other hard drives had crashed and it is believed by some that these emails will never be retrieved.

The credibility of the IRS has been severely damaged by this new revelation but what is even more concerning is that they waited until early this week to reveal that the emails were lost when it had been known all along they weren't going to be able to provide these emails.

They also said that the hard drive had been recycled and was no longer accessable.Although Mr. Koskinen says no emails were lost since the investigation began a look back at the timeline tells us they were aware of the issue in October of 2010 when an employee emailed Lois Lerner out of concern that groups were being targeted for political purposes.Although a crash could happen accidentally, having the hard-drive recycled was not. If they could find that they were aware of the possibility of an investigation when they decided to recycle the hard-drive that could also be damaging.Mr. Koskinen says it is unclear how many emails they will be able to recover from the other hard-drives that had crashed.

Here is the party vote breakdown

232 republicans 225 vote yes, 0 vote no, 7 do not vote199 Democrats 187 vote no, 6 vote no, and 6 do not voteThis vote has taken place because of Lerner's refusal to testify before congress and republicans claim she has no right to refuse since she already gave an opening statement claiming her innocence.Some say any innocent person in her position would consider it her patriotic duty to cooperate with the investigation adding that there is no question she has something to hide.By a 250 to 167 tally, the house voted to appoint a special council, a vote that included 26 democrats voting yes, showing atleast some substantial bi-partisan support toward the idea that we need someone other than than Obama's justice department to investigate these allegations.The house of representatives voted for the special council because they say the department of justice has appointed an Obama donor, Barbara Bosserman, to head the investigation. They also claim that the DOJ is obligated to appoint a special prosecuter now that they have voted for one. Many observers say it will not happen. The house contempt vote is supposed to compel the DOJ to file criminal charges but many think they will ignore the vote.

In a side comment, There has been very little coverage of the contempt vote. CNN barely covered it the day after it happened and totally ignored it the first day. That's strange because when you cover story the day after it comes out your sort of admitting you were wrong for avoiding it the first day. It's similar to what happened when the explosive e-mails came out regarding Benghazi. It took until day 2 for CNN to admit it was a legitamate story.

Many objective observers believe nothing will ultimately come of the IRS scandal, either because the evidence is not strong enough or the doj will not fullfill their duty and objectively investigate Lois Lerner her or appoint a special prosecutor.

The Inspector General found that although conservatives were singled out, it wasn't politically motivated. That seems like an oxy-moron unless you are to believe that the irs auditing strategy just coincidentally targeted conservative groups. I would like to know what he thinks of the evidence that republicans have suggesting that it was politically motivated. It seems, at the very least, somewhat convincing.

The house panel has voted 21-12 to hold Lois Lerner in contempt for pleading the 5th. Democrats claim argued that she has a constitutional right to do so even though they believe she should cooperate. It ought to be pointed out that democrats are not asking any tough questions in spite of the evidence against her and the IRS in general. They seem to be taking her side, which is the side of Obama, that there is no corruption here. However, if you don't believe there is any corruption here than how can you allow her to plead the 5th since you need to have a reasonble fear of criminal prosecution to do that. Republicans also point out that she already has spoken out by proclaiming that she is innocent of any wrong doing and by declaring that she automatically has forfieted her right to plead the 5th.House Leader John Boehner says if she continues not to cooperate, the full house will take up the matter and vote to hold her in contempt. After that the matter will be referred to the U.S. attorney's office where she could face criminal charges.

House Majority Leader says they will ask the Justice Department to Press Criminal Charges against Lois LernerGiven that Lois Lerner has pled the 5th we have to assume she is fearing criminal prosecution. Maybe she is aware of something we are not. Or maybe she simply has no good answer for the questions we already know Daryl Issa was planning to ask her. John Boehner seems to think so.In an interview with Fox's Megan Kelly he said "I want to know who's going to jail,".."There are specific laws that force the IRS to comply with the law. Somebody at the IRS violated the law."..."I would expect the Congress will take up that contempt resolution," he said. "I made it clear she was going to tell us the truth or we will hold her in contempt. ... The House will hold her in contempt."

The lack of media attention outside of Fox that this has gotten is amazing to me. You will not hear anything from CNN and MSNBC might reference it simply to say there is no scandal. Obama himself has condemned the IRS after the Inspector general's report came in May 2013 even though he now somehow maintains there is not a smidgeon of corruption. You would think that alone would elicit some sort of curiosity from CNN or the other major news organizations. Clearly there are some very strong reasons to suspect someone did something Illegal here and the investigators in the media should be just as interested in uncovering this as the republicans are.

Irs scandal: what we know

President Obama tells Fox News' Bill Orielly that there is not even a 'smidgen' of corruption regarding the IRS contraversy targeting conservative groups

In October of 2010 an IRS agent in the Determinations Unit emailed concerns to the technical unit that conservative501(c)4 groups were being unfairly targeted through searches such as 'Tea Party', Patriot or 9/12 project.In November he emailed again after getting no response and practice did not stop. In June of 2011 Lois Lerner The Director of Determinations Unit at the IRS learns of this and says the practice needs to stop.In May of 2012, IRS Deputy commissioner Steven Miller was told about the targeting of conservative groups through 'Tea Party' and other searches.

On July 25th, when testifying at a congressional hearing regarding the matter, he somehow failed to mention this when responding to concerns from a congressman that certain 501(c)4 groups in his district felt they were being harassed.

Lois Lerner Pleads the 5th

New Light Shed on why lois lerner is refusing to answer questions

Lois Lerner testifying before congress

So far Lois Lerner is refusing to answer any questions. She plead the 5th on March 5th, 2014, and on May 22, 2013. Chairman of the House Oversight Committe, Darrel Issa, has released a list of seven questions that he was going to ask Mrs. Lerner as some interesting facts that preceed the questions such as quotes from Mrs. Lerner, email exchanges, and testmony from others in the IRS.

1. In October 2010, Lerner told a Duke University group: “The Supreme Court dealt a huge blow, overturning a 100-year-old precedent that basically corporations couldn’t give directly to political campaigns. And everyone is up in arms because they don’t like it. The Federal Election Commission can’t do anything about it. They want the IRS to fix the problem.”

Who exactly wanted the IRS to “fix the problem” caused by Citizens United?

2. In February 2011, Lerner e-mailed her colleagues in the IRS: “Tea Party Matter very dangerous. This could be the vehicle to go to court on the issue of whether Citizens United overturning the ban on corporate spending applies to tax-exempt rules. Counsel and Judy Kindell need to be in on this one please. Cincy should probably NOT have these cases.”

Why did Lerner think the Tea Party cases were “very dangerous”?

3. In September 2010, Lerner e-mailed subordinates about initiating a “c4 project,” but wrote: “we need to be cautious so it isn’t a per se political project.”

Why was Lerner worried about this being perceived as a political project?

4. Michael Seto, manager of EO Technical in Washington, testified that you ordered Tea Party cases to undergo a “multi-tier review.” He testified: “[Lerner] sent me email saying that when these cases need to go through multi-tier review and they will eventually have to go to Miss Kindell and the chief counsel’s office.”

Why did Lerner order the Tea Party cases to undergo a “multi-tier review”?

5. In June 2011, Lerner requested that Holly Paz obtain a copy of the tax-exempt application filed by Crossroads GPS so that her senior technical advisor, Judy Kindell, could review it and summarize the issues for Lerner.

Why did Lerner want to have the Crossroads GPS application?

6. In June 2012, Lerner was part of an e-mail exchange about writing new regulations on political speech for 501(c)(4) groups “off-plan” in 2013.

Doesn’t this “off-plan” effort from 2012 contradict Administration assertions that new regulations were written in response to the 2013 TIGTA report?

7. In February 2014, President Obama stated that there was not a “smidgeon of corruption” in the IRS targeting.

If this is true, why do House Democrats believe that Lois Lerner has a well-founded fear of criminal prosecution that allows her to claim the Fifth Amendment in refusing to testify?To this date Obama has not backed of his statements that there has not been a "smidgeon of corruption at the IRS.

Emails like this raise concerns about bias on the part of Lois Lerner, Head of the IRS Determinations Unit.